Persona 4: A Duality of Souls
by The Great Wade Wilson
Summary: All things have two sides to them. One cannot live without the other. So as a man with two names, Souji Seta and Yu Narukami, what makes you think they are not one in the same? This is their journey together as they come to solve the mysteries that surround them. Will they be able to come together and solve this case as one or will this all be lost in the fog?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do own a copy of the game Persona 4, but I am not the owner of its story, ideas, characters, and settings. All rights belong to Atlus, the great creators of this great game and series.**

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**_Chapter 1_**

_One in the Same_

Fog.

Fog so thick and so deep that you couldn't even see what was in front of you. Pale gray enveloped the area, shrouding even the senses except for the slight feeling of light jostling.

"Ahh..It seems we have a new guest here," a voice called out from the fog, sounding happy and amused at the same time.

Hearing this caused a young man to snap out of his trance and stare into the pale haze as he tried to gain his bearings.

The voice gave a chuckle and with it the fog began to slowly dissipate into a dark violet hue along with two figures mere feet away from where the young man was.

"Welcome…to the Velvet Room." The voice spoke in a deep tone, wisdom beyond ages seemingly pouring from every word.

The young man took a glance at his newly uncovered surrounds. Velvet blue covered the entire room as the young man sat on a plush seat.

"It seems that we have a guest that has a most intriguing destiny that I haven't seen in quite a while." The man gave a short chuckle, "Ahh…But where are my manners? My name…is Igor and I am delighted to make your acquaintance."

The man named Igor was an older looking gentleman. He sat on the opposite side of the young man, his hands folded under his chin, elbows resting on a small table in front of him, and eyes closed, as if contemplating something. The man had a very…unique appearance to say the least. His long nose easily reaching over where he had his hands and curving shortly after, as if in a beak-like fashion. His ears had a pointed tip like those seen on magical creatures and his hairline had resided so far back that if left him bald on top, leaving him with wild gray patch on the back of his head. He wore an expensive black suit with white gloves and white flower in his breast pocket. The man opened his eyes, revealing big bloodshot eyes that had the ability to stare through you. And even with his appearance, the man gave a smile. One that looked gentle, but still had a creepy factor to it.

The young man across from Igor looked to his left and saw a window. He looked out and saw the fog that had he had been in earlier, but this fog seemed different. It seemed as if it was deeper and more sinister.

Igor saw this and waved a gloved hand in front of his face, gaining the attention of the young man. "My apologies my young acquaintance. You must be very confused right now as to where you are. Do not fret! This place exists only between dream and reality, mind and matter…It is a place that only those that are bound by a 'contract' may enter." The man gave another light chuckle. "There is no need for alarm my young acquaintance! But, it may be that such a fate awaits you within the near future…"

The man waved his hand over the small table where he rested his elbow and, out of thin air, a set of blue cards appeared on the table. "How about we have a small glance into your future, shall we? With a snap of his fingers, the deck of cards vanished and was replaced with a three by three set of cards. "Do you believe in fortune telling young man?" The young man wanted to answer, but was cut off before he had the chance to speak. "I find it simply fascinating! Each reading is done with the same cards, and yet the result is always different." The man chortled and shook his head. "Life itself has the same principles, doesn't it?"

Igor leaned forward and flipped the card in the upper left corner. "Hmm," he rubbed his chin, gazing intently on the card in front of him. "The Tower in the upright position. This represents the immediate future. It seems that a terrible catastrophe is in the imminent future. The card indicating the future beyond that is…" The man this time flipped over the card in the upper right corner. "The Moon, in the upright position. This card represents 'hesitation' and 'mystery'…Yes. Very interesting indeed." Igor then moved his hand to the middle card on the bottom row and flipped it over. "Temperance, in the reversed position. This represents 'harmony' and or 'synthesis'. You will have deep troubles within yourself, but whether you are able to overcome it or not…is an entirely different matter."

Igor glanced up from the cards with a serious gaze. "It seems that you will encounter a great misfortune at your destination, and a great mystery will be thrust upon you. All the while, you will have conflicts within yourself. In the coming days, you will enter in a contract of some sort, after which you will return here."

Igor waved his hands over the cards and made them vanish, this time not to return. He place his elbows back on the table and assumed the pose he had earlier.

"The coming year is the turning point in your destiny. If the mystery goes unsolved, your future may be forever lost." The room was deathly silent. "My duty is to provide assistance to our guests and to ensure that future does not happen."

Something seemed to hit Igor as he gestured his hand to his left. "Ah! I have neglected to introduce my assistant to you." The assistant in question was a woman with platinum blonde hair beside him. "This is Margaret. She is a resident of the Velvet Room like myself."

Igor turned his head slightly to look at the woman, to which she gave a short nod. "Hello. My name is Margaret." Her voice sounded monotone and her facial expressions were practically non-existent, if any at all. She said the line as if she had rehearsed it her whole life. "I am here to accompany you on this journey ahead." With that, Margaret turned her head back down into the huge tome that she had in her lap.

"We both have much assistance to provide you during the course of your long journey ahead." Igor continued. "But it shall have to wait to another time. Until then, farewell…"

The room began to fade into black as the young man felt his eye-lids begin to close.

The young man woke up startled, his heart beating and sweat covering his forehead. What did he dream that made him awaken so rudely? The young man wiped the sweat from his forehead and leaned back into his train seat as he looked out at the scenery passing by, his mind going back to the previous couple of days.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X  
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"Class, today our friend and fellow student Souji Seta will be leaving us due to his parents work overseas. He will be living with his relatives until next year when he returns…"

Souji tuned out his teacher midway through his rambling. Of course he was moving. His parents were always on the move, but it didn't affect him much. He was used to his parents not being around at home, he had his friends from school to hang out with and to keep him company. But when his father came to him the week before and told him that he would have to stay with his relatives out in the sticks, he wanted to object, but deep down he really didn't care, so he just sighed and resigned to his fate. There was no way that they were going to change their minds, especially when it came to their high-profile jobs.

On his last day of school, the news of Souji's leaving had spread around the school like wildfire. He had wanted to keep this whole thing under the radar. Sure there were people that he wanted to say goodbye to, but since it was the news of the day, that wasn't going to happen. Souji had to endure a painfully awkward day of tears, hugs, and goodbyes.

Being popular had its ups, but it definitely had its downs too. Sure his cool appearance, his participation in athletics, and his extraordinarily good grades made him the target for everyone to socialize with him and thus invited to hang out with other classmates on a regular basis, but were they really his friends?

Souji often contemplated this when he had time to himself and always came to a crossroads with himself.

On one hand, he never really felt a connection to others. Hell, he had problems remembering their names at times. He carried on half-assed conversations, even if you could call them that, with them; never giving his full attention. On the other hand though, he had actually grown accustom to the night life with his so-called "friends". The outings to the arcade, the various nights of group dates to karaoke booths, and being in a crowd in general actually pleased him. It made Souji feel good to have human contact; God knows his parents weren't giving him any. Maybe it was his way of coping with the situation?

"So Seta-kun, is there anything that you would like to say to your fellow classmates?"

Yeah…they were just classmates. Nothing more, nothing less. Just other teenagers trying to survive high school like Souji. He didn't have a connection to them. He just put on his normal deadpan face and addressed the class.

"I'll..uh…miss you all I guess." He lied. "I will cherish every moment that we've had together." Another lie. This one sent the class into overload. Some of the more popular girls in class began to tear up, while the rest of the class moaned and groaned.

God, that made Souji feel like such a hypocrite. He could care less about them, but at the same time he felt bad about seeing them react this way. Had they really cared for him? Was it him that never really opened up to them because of his old notions about people in general?

Nah, He just chalked it up to him being a people pleaser.

The teacher motioned for Souji to return to his seat. Once there he rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. He didn't want to delve too much into the morals of his past actions, what's done is done. No going back.

Souji gave a small groan and put his head down on the desk. He just wanted this day to be over with.

_The Next Day_

Souji stood all alone on the train platform. Of course nobody showed up. He was just one person. Not a friend, not a lover, not anything. Souji mentally kicked himself for feeling bad for them yesterday. Did anyone really truly care for him?

The teen just gave a heavy sigh as he saw his train roll into the station. Some would think of him for a week, maybe two tops, before he would disappear from their lives. A normal person would be sad that they were all alone with no one there to see him or her off or even at least sending them a goodbye message, but Souji wasn't normal. He would just dust off his shoulders and move forward, like the countless times he's done before. Perhaps the only reason that he let the others feel attached to him in the first place was because this was his hometown. He thought that his parents had finally decided to settle down and wanted to be rooted down back home, but it was just a childish notion.

The doors to the train slid open and without hesitation, Souji stepped into the desolate train. He sat his bag down beside him and took a seat next to the window.

"_Goodbye Tokyo, I'll miss the places, not the people."_

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

"_Still though, moving me out to the sticks? I was somewhat content at where I was at already. The city had plenty of distractions. Malls, arcades, and theaters…What does this place have? Nothing of interest more than likely._" Souji continued to gaze out of his window as the train sped along the tracks. "_At least the trip here is nice."_

"_**Come on Souji, I think that this change in scenery will be good for the both of us. God knows how much I hated to be around all those buffoons.**__" _A voice resonated within Souji's mind.

"You know that's not entirely true. Many of them were like me, trying to cling to something to forget about another." There was a questioning silence in the air. "Maybe you are right, but still…..some part of me still enjoyed the nights out." Souji mumbled back to himself.

"_**Well you did not get that from me. I despised them. All their 'Friendship' was just whitewash.**_" The voice retorted back coldly.

Souji winced at the words, but as they say, "The truth hurts". Yu was right.

That's right…Yu.

Yu Narukami…a part of Souji that only he could see and hear. And though he was in his mind, Souji considered him a close friend and even his brother at lengths. Yu had been there for Souji for as long as he could remember.

To any normal person, this would seem like a case of an individual who is mentally disturbed. A person talking to themself and actually holding a conversation is just downright ludicrous, but to Souji, it was a normal aspect of his life. Though, he didn't go around spouting that he had voices in his head, he kept silent about it. Yu was a person that he could talk to on a daily basis. Someone that actually knew Souji for who he was.

Souji looked into the train window and saw what looked like his own reflection, but it seemed different. Instead of Souji, it was Yu who was looking at him. Yu's eyes always had this piercing sort of stare instead of Souji's own naturally soft gaze. Yu even had a deeper octave voice than Souji's to go with his piercing stare.

And even with these differences, they couldn't get along any better.

Yu gave a sigh, "_**Hey…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been that hard on you**_**.**" Yu said apologetically. "_**I thought things would have been different this time too. I guess we were both wrong, huh?**_"

"Hey don't take all the blame. I got a little too comfortable and I let them get a little under my skin." Souji said with a wave of his hand. "We just need to put this behind us and continue on."

Yu gave a lopsided grin and nodded his head. "_**Agreed.**_"

Time passed as both parties conversed with each other until the familiar ding of the train's announcement came on. "We will be arriving in Inaba in five minutes."

"_That's us then…." _Souji thought as he grabbed his duffel-bag beside him.

Inaba… The town which he would be staying in for the next year. Souji slumped back in his seat with his bag beside him and gave a sigh.

Inaba. Even the name made it sound like a small town out in the middle of nowhere. But being the optimist that he tried to be, Souji hoped that there would be a way to entertain himself through the year in this town. It wouldn't be that bad. Right?

The train pulled slowly into the station and soon the doors slid open, revealing Souji's new home.

"There's nothing here…" Souji mumbled to himself, somewhat amazed at his surroundings compared to that of the city.

"_**Clean air, the smell of grass and flowers, the simplistic feel…..**_ _**I think I'm going to like this place. What about you?**_" Yu said contently.

"I would joke about how a being within my own mind is able to 'like' something, but I'm not going into that argument right now…"

Yu was about to give his retort, but was interrupted when he heard a voice call out.

"Hey! Over here," a man in his early thirties shouted out. Souji walked strolled over to the man, bag on hand.

"Nice to see ya' again Souji." The teen knew that this had to be his uncle, how else would he know him by name? He stood there with a grin on his face and a cigarette in his mouth. The man had a gray dress shirt with a red tie done haphazardly with a matching suit jacket slung over his shoulder and pair of dark brown slacks.

"Well, you look better in person than you do in your photo." The man gave a small chuckle. "My name is Ryotaro Dojima. I'll be taking care of you." The man extended his hand out.

"Thank you" He extended his own hand and reciprocated with a firm handshake. "Thank you for taking me in Dojima-san."

Dojima gave a small look of surprise before bursting out in laughter and giving a hard slap on Souji's back, nearly knocking the wind out of him. "No need to be formal you know. We're family after all!" The man paused, tilting his head slightly to the side. "Let's see…I'm your mother's younger brother….and that about sums it up. Don't tell me you forgot about me."

"I..um…I'm sorry if I don't really remember you." Souji said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'm not surprised." Dojima gave a nonchalant shrug. "The last time I saw you, you were still in diapers." Dojima shifted to his right, revealing a small little girl. She had brunette hair, tied up in pigtails with pink ribbon. "This is my daughter Nanako." He gave the girl a push forward, allowing Souji to get a good look at her. She wore a long sleeve-dress that was white from the chest up, brown down at the waist, and ending with a pink skirt. Overall the attire had the adorableness of a little girl written all over it.

"Come on Nanako, introduce yourself to your cousin."

Souji gave a warm smile and squatted in front of the little girl, extending his hand. "It's very nice to meet you Nanako-chan."

The girl was too shy to meet Souji's face, so she took to looking at his shoulder. She rolled on the balls of her feet, a scarlet red blush forming across her cheeks, managing to squeak out a tiny "..'lo" before retreating to the safety of her dad's back. Souji gave a warm chuckle as he retracted his hand.

Dojima laughed at the sight as well. "What're you acting so shy for?"

Nanako mumbled something into her dad's shirt before slapping him on the small of his back out of frustration.

"Ow! Haha…" Dojima continued to laugh as Souji rose back to his feet. "My car is just around the corner, let's get going."

Souji walked to the back of the station wagon and began to put his duffle bag in. "_**Well, they are a nice pair, huh Souji?**_"

"_Yeah. I wonder why Mother hasn't talked about them much. Sure, she said his name in passing, but she never really described him to me." _Souji answered back as he walked around to the front of the vehicle.

With the luggage in the vehicle, the three piled in, Nanako in the back seat and Souji and Dojima up front.

Dojima started the car and was soon on the road into town.

The ride into town was quiet for the most part. Souji had answered Dojima's simple questions like "How old are you?" and "How are your parents," but that wasn't enough to keep a conversation going and it was beginning to cause tension. Dojima sensed this and turned on the radio to break the silence in the car.

It was apparently a talk radio show as a male reporter came on the air. "If you are just tuning in, we are covering the alleged affair between councilman Taro Namatame and reporter Mayumi Yammano. We now turn to our correspondents. Do yo-" The male reporter's voice began to be replaced by static. Dojima fiddled with the knobs seeing if he could fix the problem, but only made it worse to the point that there was only the mean hiss of static.

Dojima gave an annoyed grunt and turned the radio off, deciding that trying to have a conversation would be a better alternative to that headache inducing sound. Dojima opened his mouth to speak, but was cut-off by the sound of a small ringing noise. He looked down at his dashboard and saw that the "Low Gas" light had come on. "Ugh, come on. I thought that I just filled the tank up last week."

"Dad…bathroom." Nanako whispered from the back.

"We have to go to the gas station so you can use it there. Thankfully it's on the way home." Dojima quickly drove up to the near gas station and pulled up to the pump. All three got out of the vehicle, Souji needed to get out and stretch out his legs. The three were greeted by an attendee clad in a red and white jacket combo and red baseball cap.

"Hello! Welcome to Moel!" Souji couldn't make heads or tails if it was a man or a woman from the baggy coat and cap covering his or her hair and most of their face as well. He thought that it would be best just to keep his mouth shut instead of being rude and asking questions and causing a scene.

"Regular is fine." Dojima said to the attendant before looking down at his daughter. "Can you go to the bathroom by yourself?"

Nanako nodded her head. "Uh-huh." She began to walk to the station , but soon slowed down. She couldn't figure out which way to go.

This was noticed by the attendant. "It's toward the back, to your left. You know which way is left right? The hand that you don't hold your chopsticks in."

The young brunette huffed and mumbled under her breath. "I know….Geez." She quickly stormed off to the bathroom.

The attendant rubbed the back his or her neck. "I don't mean to be nosy, but are you going on a trip?"

"Oh, no we just picked him up from the train station." Dojima pointed to Souji. "He just arrived here from the city."

"The big city, huh?" The worker grinned, eyes pinned on the silverette.

"_Well, this is a good time as any for a smoke…_" Dojima thought as he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket.

"I'll pump your gas right away sir." Dojima gave a nod and walked to the street as he put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it.

The attendant pulled the nozzle from its pump and put it into the car. The attendant then left the pump and walked over to Souji.

"Are you in high school?" The attendant asked.

Souji's head snapped around as he replied "Huh? Oh..yeah."

"Does it surprise you to see so little out here?"

"Well I guess you could say that." Souji said as he looked out to the surrounding country.

"Well that's understandable. There's so little to do out here that you'll get bored pretty fast." Souji's shoulders dropped a little at this. "You'll either be hanging out with your friends or working part-time jobs." The attendant snapped his or her fingers "That's right! We're hiring right now too. Give it some thought, why don't you? We don't mind if you're a student."

The attendant took a step forward and extended a hand to the silverette. Not wanting to be rude, he extended his own and shook the hand of the attendant. Souji felt something weird as he connected with the attendant, an electric tingle spread throughout his body and a warm feeling rose through him as a light flashed before his eyes.

"Oh, I should get back to work!" The attendant let go of Souji's hand and quickly walked back to the pump.

Souji began to feel light headed and stumbled back over to the car and leaned against the passenger side door. "_What…the hell is going on? Why am I so sick all of a sudden?" _Souji felt like the world was spinning around him and that he would empty the contents of his stomach at any time.

"_**This…is interesting. I can….feel something. I don't know what it is, but this is new.**__"_Yu contemplated. That's when Yu sensed something wasn't right, Souji hasn't responded like he usually does. "_**Souji are you alright? Talk to me.**_"

Souji's face was beginning to become flushed as, what felt like fire, burned through his veins. _"I don't feel too good…Yu."_

"Are you okay? You don't look so good." a voice came from behind Souji. He whipped around and saw Nanako who was standing with concern in her eyes. She was only feet away, but her voice sounded like she was a world away.

"Oh…yeah. I'm alright." He put on a smile, hoping that she would buy it.

Nanako stood there for a second, her tiny eyes seemingly scrutinizing Souji. "Hmm…okay then…" She pouted and ran back to the other side of the car and climbed into her seat.

Souji breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to worry anyone right now, let alone a child.

Dojima had returned from his smoke break to see Souji in his sorry state. "Are you okay?"

Souji spun around to face his uncle. "Yeah, I think I'm just…tired from the trip." Souji hoped that his act would make it past his uncle now.

He looked Souji up and down and rubbed his five o'clock shadow. "Hmm… Well, if you're starting to come down with something, we have some medicine you can take when we get home. Think you can make it till then?" Souji nodded his head. "Okay. Let's go then."

Dojima paid for the gas and they all piled into the car. Souji leaned back in his seat and sighed out. He was already beginning to feel somewhat better. The heat flash had died down, but the feeling of disorientation was still there and Souji had gained a pulsating headache now.

"_Today just isn't my day, huh?" _Souji rubbed his temples. "_I'm starting to feel tired…" _Souji felt his eye-lids grow heavy as he felt fatigue set into him. Souji leaned against the window and closed his eyes.

Maybe just closing his eyes for a moment would make him feel better?

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

"We're here."

Souji jerked up violently as he felt someone put a hand in his shoulder and shake him.

"Wh-what?"

"W-We're here." Dojima repeated with a confused look on his face. "Did you fall asleep on the ride here?"

"I guess so…" Souji mumbled out as he rubbed his eyes.

Had he really fallen asleep the whole car ride over? It had only felt like minutes had passed since he closed his eyes. Souji shook the cobwebs out of his head and exited the car.

"This is our home." Dojima said he walked toward the back of the car, grabbing Souji's duffel bag and handing it to him. The three then walked toward the front of the house to where Souji could get a good look at it.

It was a very simple styled house. It had and old, but humbled feeling to it as Souji walked through the front door. "_So this is where we're staying for the next year, huh?"_

Souji wasn't very excited about the prospect of this, but decided to keep it to himself. This was his uncle's house and he didn't want to leave a bad first impression on him.

"You can go ahead and take you bag to your room while I get dinner ready. It's the room at the end of the hall upstairs." Dojima said as he took off his shoes.

Souji gave a singular nod and after removing his own shoes, he trekked up the stairs and found his room. He opened the door and was greeted with the sight of various boxes stuffed in the average sized room. Souji flung his bag to the side and maneuvered around the many obstacles to the small leather couch that was against the wall, promptly flopping down on it. He was still awfully tired from before.

"Why did I get sick so suddenly back at the gas station?" Souji mumbled to himself as he ran his hand through his silver hair.

"_**I don't know. All I know is that it affected me as well. That was something very alien to me. I have never been able to 'feel' your sicknesses before, but at the gas station I felt something seemingly setting fire to our soul.**_" Yu chimed in, his voice giving off a dark tone.

Souji contemplated what could have caused this to happen, but was getting nowhere fast. He scratched the back of his neck and gave out an exasperated sigh. "Maybe I'm overthinking this. I probably caught some sort of weird bug from the train ride and it hit me all at once."

Yu was silent for a time before speaking. "_**I hope that is so…**_" Yu trailed off, not sounding very confident with Souji's hypothesis.

Souji rubbed his eyes one good time before head out of his room, dinner was probably ready by now and he didn't want to hold his relatives up from eating. Souji descended down the stairs and was greeted with a table of sushi, rice, and other side dishes. It looked pretty appetizing right now, since Souji had nothing to eat besides a piece of fruit he had that morning. Dojima waved him over, Souji promptly took a seat next to his uncle. Nanako walked in from the kitchen with three drinks in her tiny arms and placed them in front of Souji and her father.

Once Nanako settled herself in her place, Dojima raised his drink in the air. "Let's have a toast!" The other two followed suit and clinked their cans with each other and took a sip.

Dojima was the first to break the ice over the dinner table. "So, your parents are out on business again, huh?" Souji gave a solemn nod and took another sip of his drink. "I know it's only for a year, but being stuck in a place like this….it must be rough on you."

"Souji shook his head. "I'm somewhat used to it now. At first it was pretty hard to just drop everything I knew and leave, but I guess time took care of that." Souji said keeping his eyes straight ahead. He already got over that old feeling of sadness from this morning.

"Dojima's mouth twitched a slight frown, thinking he touched a nerve. He quickly decided to change the subject. "So it's just me and Nanako here. It'll be good to have someone else around for a while." Dojima glanced over to his daughter and saw that she was completely absorbed with some show on T.V.

"So long as you're here, you're part of the family, so make yourself at home." Dojima finished with a gentle smile.

"_Home…Family…" _ Did Souji truly know the meaning of those words? He had always been dragged from place to place by his parents, and then left to defend himself once they attended to their jobs. But something struck a chord within Souji with the way Dojima said those words. It made Souji feel an old sense of longing.

"Thank you for your kindness Uncle." Souji said with a small hint of sincerity in his voice.

He gave a small bow to Dojima, which made him laugh. "Haha! C'mon, no need to be so formal! Look, you're making Nanako all tense."

Souji turned to his young cousin. Nanako gained a small blush and turned her eyes down to her lap. Souji gave a small smile to himself. "_**That's cute,**__"_ said Yu.

"Well, let's eat." Dojima picked up his chopsticks and nearly had a piece of sushi in his mouth before his cellphone rang. He gave a disgruntled mumble before fishing through his pocket to find his phone. He pressed the receive button and out it to his ear. "Dojima speaking…."

Souji turned his gaze to his uncle whose expression changed to one of tiredness and frustration. What was going on?

Dojima got up on his feet and walked into the kitchen. "Uh-huh….I see. Where is it?" Dojima gave a small sigh, "Alright, I'm on my way." Dojima closed his phone and mumbled to himself. "Looks like I made the right choice to skip the booze tonight..."

Dojima picked up his suit jacket, slinging it over his shoulder and turning back to Souji and Nanako. "Sorry, but I've business I need to take care of. Go ahead and eat without me."

Nanako stood up from the table. "Dad?"

Dojima rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry, but I don't know how late I'll be. Nanako, help him out, okay?"

"…Okay" Disappointment was evident in her voice.

It hurt Souji to hear the pain in her. It reminded him of him when he was a child whenever his parents told him that he would be moving away from his friends back then.

Dojima opened the door and seemed to get even more annoyed that it was raining outside. "Nanako, it's raining. What did you do with the laundry?"

"I brought it in already."

"Okay. Well, I'm off then." Dojima exited out and headed to the car. The sound of the engine easily heard when he left.

Nanako turned her attention to the television and turned up the volume. It was the weather report. "Now let's take a look at the breakdown of tomorrow's weather. With storm clouds moving in from the west, expect rain showers throughout the day in most areas."

Souji felt the tense atmosphere between them and decided to strike up a conversation. "Soo…" Souji took a second to think of what to say. "What does your father do?"

The girl looked up from her food. "He….investigates stuff. Like crime scenes. My dad is a detective."

Souji was pleasantly surprised. He never knew that he was related to a detective off all people. Police work like that always intrigued him. He was a very big mystery buff, often reading Sherlock Holmes and other mystery novels to pass the time when he was home. Maybe Souji could talk to him a bit to see what it's like to be a detective.

The evening news came on, the announcer giving the latest report. "City council secretary, Taro Namatame is under fire from an alleged relationship with a female reporter." The image of a thin, sad looking man was showed in the corner of the screen. "His wife, enka ballad sensation Misuzu Hiiragi, revealed to the station that she will likely pursue damages." The photo of a woman in a kimono replaced the one of Narotame. "In response, Eye Television has decided to cancel all of the announcer Mayumi Yamano's televised apperances. Until allegations of an affair Mr. Namatame are resolved, she'll off the air and out of the public eye."

"…This is boring" Nanako reached over to the remote and began flipping channels for something to watch.

Souji had to agree with his younger cousin. There was nothing of interest in that story. It was more than likely a straight cut case of a wealthy politician having an inflated ego and thinking he could get anything he wanted. He got caught red handed with his hand in the cookie jar.

A happy jingle came on and caught the silverette's attention. "At Junes, every day is Customer Appreciation Day! Come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products!"

"_Oh it's a commercial for that mega-store, been a while since we saw one of their commercials." _Souji commented mentally.

"_**Maybe that's because we rarely watch television in the first place.**__"_

Souji just shrugged his shoulders as the cheesy ending tune came on. "Every day young life Junes!"

Nanako seemed to beam at this and sang back the tune with joy. Souji gave an amused smile. "_That makes two."_

"_**Ah, the innocence of children. Remember when we were like that?**__"_

"_Yeah, but that was cut rather short, wasn't it? I'm really more surprised that I can actually remember that far back. That or it's you that is remembering for me."_

Yu gave a dry chuckle. "_**I guess you could say that I am the brains of the outfit, since if I wasn't here you wouldn't even remember what you did thirty minutes ago.**__"_

"_I don't have bad memory. I just don't pay attention to things that aren't important."_

"_**A lot of things aren't important to you then.**__"_

Souji was about to retort, but was cut off by a small voice across the table. "Are you going to eat?" Nanako asked with her head tilted slightly.

He must have been staring into space for a while when he was talking with Yu. Souji nodded his head and begun to eat the rest of his dinner.

Souji thanked Nanako for his meal and, sensing that she was still tense from not knowing him, decided to retire to bed early for the night.

He walked into his room and was greeted with boxes again. Souji gave a small sigh and waved them off, they would be a problem for tomorrow night. He was too tired to even begin to think of unpacking. He grabbed his duffel bag from where he threw it and changed into his night pajamas, a white long-sleeved shirt and a pair of black sweat pants.

Souji walked over to the closet and pulled out the futon. He cleared a space for himself and turned off the lights. Sleep sounded like a fine prospect right now.

******X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Souji opened his eyes and found himself down on his knee, a deep fog surrounding him. He slowly stood up and saw that he was dressed in his Yasogomi High uniform. He shook his head and tried to gain a sense of where he was at, but any notion of that was quickly dismissed. The fog was simply too thick to know heads or tails of what was around him.

"Do you seek the truth?" A mysterious voiced called out.

Souji whipped around to pinpoint where the voice came from. The fog only seemed to thicken in front of him.

"What the hell is going on? Who are you?" Souji shouted out.

"If it is the truth you desire, come and find me." The voice called out, this time from in front of him. The voice didn't seem to have malice in it, but at the same time it sounded….cold. It also held this…unnatural air around it, making it hard to differentiate it between male and female.

Souji squinted his eyes and saw a red blocky path begin to reveal itself to him. He took a step forward and felt something clack against his back. He reached around and grabbed the handle of whatever it was and pulled it out. Souji brought up to his face and saw that it was a katana. And not just any, but what seemed like a high quality one as well. It wasn't too heavy so it wasn't cumbersome and it wasn't thin to that the sword would be flimsy, it also had a very sharp edge to it. This was the real deal. Souji ran his hand down the length of the blade, old kendo skills coming to mind. It had been about a year and a half since he last picked up a sword. He suppressed the urge to swing the dangerous weapon around and simply returned it to its sheath.

The teen slowly walked forward, following the weird misshapen path before him. Souji felt alone in his travel down the long path, he was used to the feeling of loneliness, but something made this feeling intense more and more as he walked on. The dead silent world around him didn't help things either. Everything about this place screamed eerie and dangerous, so Souji kept his guard up. He soon came upon a huge black and red-colored portal-like door. Souji looked behind him and saw that the path behind had dissolved back into the fog.

"_No going back now…"_ The silverette apprehensively reached out to the door but was stopped when he felt something manifest itself beside him. He quickly turned his head and leapt back, drawing his sword in one fluid motion. The teen strained his eyes to see what looked like a male figure in front of him. It seemed…familiar. He slowly inched closer to the figure, the fog slowly dissipating from around the figure. Once Souji was upon the figure he gasped in shock as he saw who it was. It was a carbon copy of himself on his knee, his head pointed to the ground.

Souji felt a lump in his throat as he nervously called out to his twin. "W-Who are you? Why do you look like me?!"

This caused the Souji look-alike to snap his head up. "**Is that you?**" The voice from the clone caught Souji off-guard, "**Is that you Souji?**"

Souji relaxed his stance once the cogs in his brain started to work. "…Yu? Is that you?" The silverette walked closer to the figure and saw the same sharp eyes that he had come to know over the many years. It was indeed Yu! Souji let his sword down and stared in amazement. He had never seen Yu this way, he looked like a living breathing person, not just a voice in his mind or a reflection in the mirror!

"Yu you're….alive! You're actually a real person!" Souji said as he looked him up and down.

Yu slowly stood up and began doing the same thing as well, amazed that he had his own body to control. "**I…I am at a loss for words.**" Yu looked glanced up and saw Souji standing before him. "**Souji! I have a body!**"

Souji was about to respond to him, but was stopped by a looming presence next to him. The hypnotic door besides the two seemed to glow a darker shade of red, as if beckoning for the pair to enter through it. Souji looked over to Yu, he nodded his head. Souji gave a quick nod back and reached out to the door, feeling the cold pulsating aura coming from it. The door swirled in a kaleidoscope like pattern and vanished before their eyes. The two walked through the door and were blinded by a bright white flash of light, the both of them raising their arms up in reflex to shield their faces. After a couple of second the pair let their guard down and were greeted with a silhouette in the fog up in the distance, they couldn't make out whether the figure was male or female.

"So…it is you that are pursuing me." The figure said in a cold voice, the same as the one from earlier.

"Who are you and what is this place?!" Souji shouted out to the figure, his hand steadily gripping the hilt of his blade.

"**Why have I come alive outside of Souji?**" Yu called out in a less menacing voice as his compatriot, but on guard as well.

"You seek the truth, do you not? Hmhmhm…try all you like." The voice said in a mocking manner.

Normally, Souji would never fly off the handle in this type of situation, but this wasn't a normal situation. Souji drew his blade and rushed forward. Yu called out to Souji to stop, but his words fell on deaf ears as Souji swung at the figure's chest. Souji's blade only met air as it passed harmlessly through the figure. Souji's stance and his attacks were slightly askew, the year and half off of his training showing, but that didn't deter the silverette.

"Everyone sees what they want….." Souji went for another slice toward the figure's head, but met air again. "And the fog only deepens…"

Souji jumped back and took another running start to the figure. Yu looked on as he felt some type of energy well up inside of him. He stretched out his arm and a card floated down from above, a gentle blue light radiating from it. Once in his hand, Yu crushed it within his fist, releasing a torrent of energy from within him. Souji felt this and turned to him and saw that a gigantic figure began to manifest itself behind Yu. Even though it was only a silhouette, it was very imposing. It carried a huge bladed weapon with it as gave out an ancient howl and looked forward to its opponent. Yu glared at the figure and the being began to do his bidding.

The huge silhouette slashed out with his blade, but had the same effect as Souji did before. The beast gave a low growl and attempted a second strike, trying to cleave the figure in two. It only met with failure, causing the beast to retreat back.

"Hmm…interesting. You can see little, even though this fog blocks your vision."

The beast didn't care for the figure's words and began to well something within itself. Both Souji and Yu could feel the energy draining from them and giving it to the beast. One word popped within their minds at the same time and simultaneously they both called out.

"**ZIO!" **

The beast let out a deafening roar, releasing the pent up energy that it had gathered into a huge lightning bolt that came down atop the figure's head in blinding white rage. Souji and Yu shielded their faces until the raging lighting died off. After the violent attack, the beast began to fade back into the nothingness from which it came. The mysterious figure still stood, unaffected by the fierce lightning.

"…I see you both possess a special quality about you." The two were too tired from the fight to respond. Yu had fallen to his knee, trying to regain his breath and Souji had dug his blade into the ground, using it as crutch to hold him up.

"…Will we meet again?" The fog began to become thicker and thicker. "At another place than this…" Both Souji and Yu's vision began to blur as the figure gave a dark chuckle. "Hmhm…I look forward to it…"

And with that, the world grew dark as both parties fell unconscious.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Well, here we are people.

I have always toyed around with this idea in my head. There are two different names for the main character, Souji Seta and Yu Narukami. Now I thought that each name represented a different side of the same person. I played around with idea of this and it had fleshed out into this. I do not know if this idea has been tried before or not. If so, please tell me where so I can give props to whoever wrote this idea first. (That sneaky bastard, whoever you are)

I also apologize if I messed up on the tarot reading in the beginning. I did as much research as I could to make the scene fit. If anyone can point any mistakes in that, I would gladly appreciate it.

I hope that you all enjoyed this first chapter and I hope to see you all in the coming chapters!

WW.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, ideas, blah , blah, blah, legal mumbo jumbo. Everything goes to Atlus.**

_**Chapter 2**_

_Another School, Another Life_

Souji woke with a start, his heart beating wildly against his chest and his body drenched in a cold sweat.

"_What in the world? D-Did I have some sort of nightmare? I-I can't remember." _Souji said as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "_Yu, can you remember what it was?"_

There was no answer. Souji frowned at this and called out again. "_Yu?"_

The teen started to get anxious now. His friend usually answered him first time around, but now it felt like he was just talking to an empty space now.

"_**Souji…**__" _Yu's voice sounded incredible tired, Souji had to strain to even hear what Yu was mumbling out.

"_Hey, are you okay?" _The silverette said, concerned for his mental brother.

"_**I'm fine. I'm just," **_Yu paused for a moment, looking for the right word. "_**…exhausted right now.**_" Yu said with a mixture of weakness and surprise.

Souji opened his mouth to say something, but caught himself. "_Wait a minute…" _He began, "_Since when did you feel exhaustion, or rather, human sensations at all?" _The silverette questioned, all previous thoughts halted.

"_**I don't understand it all either Souji. This is such an…alien feeling to me.**__" _Yu chuckled half-heartedly at his own irony. "_**Don't worry about me Souji.**__**If this is like the times that you've been exhausted, then all I need is some rest. I'll talk to you when I feel better.**__"_

Souji gave a small frown, this was the second time that something weird had happened to the both of them. The nausea and fatigue from yesterday and now a blank nightmare that drained Yu's energy. What was going on?

The teen hung his head down and pursed his lips, his mind alight with wild theories trying to explain these unnatural events. The high pitched shrill of the nearby alarm clock quickly startled the silverette from his thoughts, taking him a brief moment to register what was happening.

"_That's right…. It's my first day at a new school."_

Souji ran a hand through his wild hair before giving a small sigh and walking over to his closet, he needed something to do to get his mind onto a different topic. Pulling the uniform out of the closet, Souji hastily put it on and gave himself a once over in the mirror. It was a very simple uniform. A white button-up shirt, with black pants and a black jacket with the high school symbol on it.

The teen quickly threw it on and brushed his hair in its usual rounded style. He opened the door and walked down the hall. Once upon the top of the stairs, the smell of breakfast started wafting under his nose, causing his stomach to rumble with hunger. The teen sauntered down the stairs to see his young cousin in front of a stove.

The little girl tilted her head back to see Souji. "Good morning." Nanako said as she turned around to put the last of the food on the table. Souji took a seat at the table, taking in the simple breakfast that his young cousin had laid out. "Okay, let's eat." Nanako took her seat across from Souji and began to nibble on a piece of toast. The teen gave no objections and dug into his meal as well.

After getting his fill, the silverette sat silently for a moment before making a bit of small talk. "Did you actually cook all of this yourself?"

She gave a small nod and her face brightened up as she gave her response. "Yeah. I can cook toast bread, and I can cook sunny-side up eggs!" She paused for a second, her face falling slightly. "Dad can't cook, so I buy dinner."

Souji was stunned. Nanako was able to do so much for her young age.

The little girl glanced over to the clock on the wall and shrieked. "Look at the time!" Nanako rushed to clean the table up. Not wanting to be a jerk, Souji helped her tidy up. Once finished, the pair headed toward the front door. "Um…You're starting school today right?" The girl asked timidly. "My school's on the way, so let's go together." She punctuated the end of her sentence with a tiny smile.

The silverette replied with a smile of his own and nodded his head. "Thank you Nanako-chan. That would be nice."

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- X-X**

The soft sound of rain pattering against his umbrella was the only thing heard as the silverette and his young cousin walked down the road along a nearby embankment.

Nanako eventually stopped and pointed out in front of her. "Keep going straight from here and you'll reach your school." She turned the opposite way. "My school is this way. Bye." She gave a small smile and begun walking back down the road.

"_That's nice of her, going out of her way to show me where to go." _

"_**I agree with you.**__" _Yu chimed in from Souji's mind.

"_Yu, you're back!" _The teen exclaimed with joy. "_That was a quick nap."_

"_**Indeed, I feel better than ever now. I am still troubled about what happened to me however.**__" _Yu said with a sigh.

"_Hey don't sweat it man. It was probably a combination of bad sushi and that train ride that made us feel like hell." _He knew that was a lie, but it was just a little white lie.

Souji could picture Yu giving him a stern look. "_**Nice try. But you and I both know that isn't it. This is too bizarre to write off as a simple illness.**__"_

The teen frowned. Of course Yu would pick up on that._ "Well… I don't know if my chemistry checks out or not, but we're still not fully grown yet. Maybe some type of hormone has increased in my body and has affected my mind, allowing you to experience what I'm feeling."_

Yu seemed to mull this idea over before responding._ "__**It is possible…There are many things not known about the human brain. Anyway, as much as I don't like it, we need to be getting to school.**__"_

Souji shrugged shoulders and walked on down the road, soon entering the small town. Now he was able to see pockets of similarly dressed teens walking down the street. The silverette was glad that he was still an unknown to the other students. It definitely made this morning walk a little nicer since he wasn't being pestered the whole way to school. He continued his walk in silence until he heard the horrendous sound of metal squeaking against each other. He stopped and glanced behind himself and saw a brown haired student holding an umbrella in one hand and trying to steer a bike with the other, and obviously failing to do both at the same time. Souji quickly moved over to the side to avoid getting ran over by the wildly careening bike.

"Woahhhh…!" Souji watched the whole spectacle unfold into a humorous and painful end. The brown haired teen veered off to the right and smashed into a telephone pole, sending him face first into the pole and the handle bar straight into a…sensitive area. Souji suppressed a chuckle, that type of pain was something that he had his fair share of experiences in.

"Ngh….Urrrrgghhh" The student was doubled over in pain, forgoing his face and going straight for the important parts.

Souji trailed off to the other side of the road, avoiding the kid in pain. "_I should leave him be."_

Other than the fiasco with the brown haired teen, the rest of the walk to the school was uneventful. Souji walked up a hill and stopped once he was at the top. He had finally reached Yasogomi High School, a modest sized school, but bigger than Souji had expected at least. The Sakura trees around the entrance provided a nice splash of color to the dreary rain-soaked environment.

"_**So, this is the school we're going to attend to for the next year. Should we even get our hopes up this time?**__" _Yu said cynically.

Always being the optimist in the situation, Souji had to speak against him. "_Let's at least try to be friendlier this year. This is a rural school, the students might not be as shallow. They actually have respectable morals out here, better than those in the city at least."_

"_**What makes you say that?**__" _Yu questioned.

Souji shrugged his shoulders. "_Dunno, something in my gut tells to be nicer to these people, even if they are a bit….simple._"

"_**Don't feel sorry for yourself when you get burned in the end.**_**" **

Souji let out a small huff. Yu never liked people. He always saw them as nothing but a nuisance and a source of problems, especially ones that annoy him. Souji tried many times to get him to change his point of view on things, but it always met with failure. The teen shook his head with a frown. There was no use in arguing right now. It was time for Souji to begin his new life here at Yasogomi High.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- X-X**

The classroom was alight with chatter all over the place.

"Damn….talk about crappy luck. We have Morooka as the homeroom teacher, don't we?

"Yeah, we have King Moron alright. Now we'll have to listen to his long, boring ass sermons every day for the rest of the year."

"Ah man…"

"Hey listen up, I heard we're getting a transfer student from the city in this class!"

"Huh? Really? A guy or a girl?"

The noise from the other conversations drowned them out as a girl with short mocha-colored hair and a green and yellow stripped track-suit jacket called out to the student beside her.

"A transfer student from the city… Just like you, huh, Yosuke?" The girl turned around to see the spikey haired student's head down and arms splayed across the desk haphazardly. "Wow…what's wrong with you? You look dead today."

"Yeah, um… I don't wanna talk about it…" The teen replied with even lifting his head.

The short haired girl raised an eyebrow at the boy and turned back to her friend, a girl with long raven black hair and a scarlet red cardigan.

"Geez…What's up with him?"

The black haired girl gave a quick glance over to the boy. "Who knows?"

The sound of the classroom door being opened caused the students to become quiet and retreat back to their respective seats. In walked a pair of people. One was our own Souji Seta, his hands stuffed in his pockets and carrying his signature deadpan expression. The other, the homeroom teacher Kinshiro Morooka. The latter being the cause of the deathly silence.

"AWRIGHT, SHUT YER TRAPS!" Morooka shouted to the class, even though it wasn't needed at this point.

Morooka was as awkward looking as you could get. Nasty short black hair that was slicked across, an unbelievable over-bite that revealed his huge gnarly teeth, and a clashing purple pinstripe suit, white shirt and yellow tie combination. Not to mention the _wonderful_ personality he had. Everything about him could offend anyone, but hopefully Souji could just ignore him like he did with others.

"I'm Kinshiro Morooka, your homeroom teacher from today forward!" Morooka gave the class a disgusted look before continuing his rant. "First things first! Just 'cause it's spring doesn't mean you can swoon over each other like love-struck baboons!"

Oh God, not even five minutes into the class and Souji wanted to go back to his previous crappy school.

"_**Told you so.**__" _Yu said, half sarcastic, half annoyed.

"Long as I'm around, you students are going to be as pure as the driven snow!"

"_What the hell is that supposed to mean in the first place?" _Souji scowled as he rubbed his ear, still ringing from that horrid shout. "_Just shut up and let me introduce myself."_

"Now I hate wasting my time, but I better introduce this transfer student."

"_Talk about wasting someone's time…"_ The silverette turned his gaze from his teacher to the class."My name's Souji Seta, I hope to get along with each of you." Short and to the point. No better way.

Morooka studied the teen for a moment before turning to the class as well. "This sad sack's been thrown from the big city to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage! He's just as much of a loser here as he was there, so you girls better not get any ideas about hitting on him!" Morooka flared his nostrils and threw a revolted glance over to Souji.

Souji heard the comical glass break within his mind as he slowly turned his head to his new teacher. "Who are you calling a loser…**Sir**?" He gritted out with as much venom as he could muster.

You could hear pin drop within that classroom, as everything went deathly still. The students looked on, dumbfounded that someone would dare stand up to King Moron.

A visible vein popped out Morooka's forehead as his eye twitched in anger. "Alright you clown! You are effectively put on my shit-list!"

Souji leaned closer to Morooka and gave a cold, devilish leer. "I wouldn't have it any other way…" The teen could hear some of the audible gasps the class gave. This must have been the first time someone spoke back to him. Souji went wide-eyed for a moment before realizing what he did.

Here he was, the first day of school and he was already in a conflict that could have been easily avoided if he had just kept his mouth shut, nooo….he had to go spouting off at the mouth, trying to keep his pride intact.

King Moron sized the silver haired teen up and down before giving a nasally snort, like he was mocking the teen.

"Listen up, you monkey. This town is miles away from your big city of perverts and assholes, and in more ways than one. So I'm gonna cut you some slack and not get your ass thrown out of here the first day for that little outburst. You better wise up quick boy. " He spat out, thrusting a finger in the teen's face.

Souji kept himself as calm as he could, but could feel Morooka's intimidation eating at him. Yu, on the other hand, was already approaching critical mass, his intolerance with people exacerbating his anger even further.

"You better not even think of getting involved with any of the girls here, let alone abusing them!" Morooka spat out, "But what do I know…it's not like the old days. Kids these days grow up so damned fast. Every time I turn my back, you're fooling around on those damn phones of yours, checking your Life-Journals and your My-Places…"

"_W-WAIT…WHAT?! I...don't….Please just shut-up so I can sit down already."_

King Moron's rant continued on and on, as the last bits of Souji's frayed sanity were dwindling away. His eyes spied an open window, jumping out it sounded like a VERY nice prospect right about now. The silverette tried his best to tune out the incoherent rant as best as he could, but it was like trying to ignore nails on a chalkboard.

Suddenly a hand shot up in the air. "Excuse me, but is it okay of the transfer student sits over here?" The girl with the track-jacket asked meekly.

Morooka snarled at the interruption, but nonetheless answered. "Huh? Yeah, sure. Hear that kid? Your seat's over there."

Souji cast a blank glance over to Morooka, serving only to piss him off further. "SIDDOWN ALREADY!"

The silverette gritted his teeth and made the slow journey to his newly assigned seat.

"He's the worst, huh?" the girl whispered over to Souji. The silverette sullenly shook his head. "Rotten luck for you to get stuck in this class… I guess we'll just have to hang in there for the year," the girl grimacing at the very idea.

Souji almost fell into despair thinking about having to suffer through an ENTIRE year with this asshole. He rubbed the bridged of nose and leaned back in his chair, wanting to melt into it. He really didn't want to be here right now.

Small bits of chatter picked up in the classroom as Morooka turned to write something on the blackboard. Souji did his best to listen to it. Anything would be better than the screeching that was still ringing in his head from Morooka.

"Man it sucks to be the transfer student, ending up in Morooka's class on the first morning here…"

"Yeah, he won't think twice about suspending you if you get on his bad side…Then again, we're all in the same boat."

"The transfer student sure has balls though, standing up to King Moron like that. City kids are so bold! I bet he was ready to punch his lights out at any moment!"

"Really? He looked pretty calm up there to me. The way he responded to Morooka-sensei….sent shivers down my spine."

Great, Souji was now the talk of the town. Even better, he was already in the beginning of gaining the title of a delinquent. "_Could this day get any worse?" _The silverette thought, letting a small sigh escape from his lips.

"SETA, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT IN CLASS OR I'LL SEND YOU TO THE OFFICE!" Morooka yelled.

The teen wanted to protest, but decided it was pointless. It would only fuel Morooka's anger further.

"ALL OF YOU, SHUT YER TRAPS! Now I'm taking attendance, and I damn well expect you all to respond in an orderly manner!"

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- X-X**

The bell rang with an ear screeching shrill, breaking Souji from his thousand yard stare. The class had been boring as he expected, Philosophy was an interesting enough class, but it just had to be King Moron that taught it. At least he cut the tone back from a ten to a mild seven, though he still gave Souji a shit look whenever their gazes crossed.

Soon the bell rung, signaling the end of class.

"That's it for today. Normal lectures will start tomorrow."

The class as a whole seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, grateful that they were released from King Moron's grasp for the day.

"_Wait, that wasn't a real lecture?! Could've fooled me…"_

"_**I figured it wasn't. He kept going off on a tangent about 'How today's generation has no respect' or 'Kids think they're so damned grown'. He kept flicking his eyes over this way when he was speaking too.**__"_Yu gave off a low growl. "_**Bad things are in store for his future if he continues this attitude…"**_

The teen gave an inward sigh. "_C'mon Yu. We can't get worked up because of one jerk. We've seen this countless times before, what makes him any different than them? I know I came close to losing my cool earlier, but you have to weigh the options. I would love nothing more than to clean his clock, but in the end he would still have the victory. I'd be kicked out and he'd have the last laugh."_

Souji could just imagine Yu's frown as he spoke. "_**I…agree with you. I don't like it, but we'll just have to grin and bear it**__" _He sounded defeated as he mumbled under his breath. "_**Let's go home. I don't want to stay here any longer than we need to.**__"_

The silverette gave a small nod and shifted around seat, grabbing his satchel and beginning to gather up the loose school materials on his desk. He was nearly out of his desk when the P.A. system came on.

"Attention all teachers, please report immediately to the Faculty Office for a brief staff meeting. All students must return their classrooms and are not leave the school until further notice.

Morooka raised one of his gangly eyebrows and turned back to the students. "Hrm…You heard the announcement. Don't go anywhere until you hear otherwise."

Once he left the class, the students started to whisper to each other.

"_Hmm….I wonder what's goi-" _Souji's thoughts were interrupted as the sound of sirens filled the air, most of the class rushing over to the window to get a glimpse at the street below.

"Did something happen? Don't those sirens sound really close?" a student asked.

Another one grumbled out. "Ugh, I can't see a damn thing. Frickin' fog… "

"Yeah, like every time it rains lately, it fogs up like this," another student chimed in.

"Hey, did you hear? I hear that the paparazzi are looking all over the place for that announcer lady."

Oh, yeah. You mean Mayumi Yamano, right? I heard some guys spotted her in the shopping district."

"Actually, I heard that…" The student leaned over to his friend, whispering something in his ear.

"What?! Are you serious?!" The student looked shocked and made a beeline to a long black-haired girl. "H-Hey, Yukiko-san. Mind if I ask you something? Is it true that announcer's staying at your family's inn?"

The girl looked obviously uncomfortable as she turned her gaze downward. "I can't discuss such things."

The other student seemed to panic a bit, waving her off with quickness. "Y-Yeah, I guess not." He then made a quick exit back to his friends.

The brown-haired girl in the green jacket walked over to her friend, giving an exaggerated sigh. "Sheesh, how much longer is this gonna take?"

"There's no telling." The black-haired girl seemed to ease up in the presence of her friend.

"I shoulda left before the announcements came on…" The brown-haired girl furrowed her brow as she frowned, but was quickly subdued as she perked up almost immediately. "By the way, did ya' try what I told you the other day?"

The other girl looked confused as she tilted her head slightly.

"You know…That thing about rainy nights…?"

This seemed to set off a light bulb within the black haired girls mind. "Oh…No, not yet. Sorry."

The brown haired girl waved her friend off. "Ahh, it's okay." She seemed anxious. "Well...It's just, I heard a guy in the class next door yell something like 'My soul-mate is Yamano, the announcer!'"

Suddenly the intercom hissed to life, silencing all conversation in the room. "Attention all students, there has been an incident within the school district. Police officers have been dispatched around the School Zone. Please stay calm and contact your parents or guardian as soon as possible, and quickly leave the school grounds. Do not disturb the police. Head directly home."

With that, the ending tone sounded off. Everyone looked shocked that something like this had happened, students loudly voicing their distain. Souji scoffed a little at their reactions, crime was common back in the city sadly, so it didn't have much of an impact on him.

"_I'm getting tired. It would be best to leave now, I don't feel like socializing."_

"_**What happened to being friendly to others?**__" _

"_I didn't say that I'd try to become hot-shit as soon as I got here." _Souji pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "_Though, I think that plan is shot down since I snapped back to that unholy demon, Morooka, this morning. I really hope this doesn't blow up in my face…"_

Souji stood up and allowed a moment to pop his stiff joints before slinging his bag across his shoulder. It was time to get out of here as fast as he could.

"Hey, transfer student!"

…Or at least he tried to. The sliverette begrudgingly stopped in his tracks and turned around to see the two girls he had eavesdropped on earlier.

"Hey, are you going home by yourself?" Souji gave a small nod. "Why don't you walk with us? We'd like to talk to you New Guy!"

Souji raised his eyebrow before shrugging his shoulders. It wouldn't kill him to talk to a couple of girls, cute ones at that. "Sure, why not? I have nothing better to do."

"_**If you're really are going to humor them with a conversation, please refrain from the Romeo tactics, they make me nauseous.**__" _Yu huffed out.

"_It never ceases to amaze me with how much you hate other people, Yu. It's not like everyone in the world is out there to do us wrong."_

"_**Oh no, I understand that. It's just the people that you usually hang around with that I don't like. They are all so shallow and bigoted.**__"_

The silver-haired teen raised an eyebrow. "_Ouch…My pride."_

With the argument ended, Souji came back to the classroom to a pair of fingers snapping in his face. "Hey, are you alright? You were spacing out pretty heavy just now." The brunette girl said.

The silverette waved his hand. "Yeah I'm fine, just a little tired is all. New school life is draining the energy out of me." He said with a grin.

The girls each gave a small chuckle. "So, you ready?" The brunette-haired girl asked. Souji gave another nod and the girl spun around on her heel. "Alright! Let's go." The girl took two steps before immediately stopping and turning around to face Souji again. "Oh! Almost forgot. I'm Chie Satonaka! I sit next you, remember?"

Souji thought about being a smartass again, but decided against it. Having a teacher pissed at you is one thing, but having a girl mad at you…Hell hath no fury. Souji had learned that lesson the hard way…multiple times.

"Of course. You saved me from jumping out the window this morning cause of Morooka."

The girl, now known as Chie, gave a small smile. "Anyway, this is Yukiko Amagi." She motioned to the black-haired girl next to her.

"Nice to meet you… I'm sorry that this is so sudden…" She obviously looked uncomfortable again.

Chie panicked a little bit at her friend's answer. "C'mon, don't apologize like that. It makes me look like I got no upbringing." Her mocha-brown eyes seemed to shine brighter as she pleaded with the boy. "We just wanted to ask some stuff. Really, that's all."

Souji had a good look at Chie's face and felt his heart flutter for a moment. Whether it was intentional or not, she looked pretty cute right. Definitely up there in his top ten. "It's no problem at all. I can't exactly refuse such a nice offer from a cute girl such as you." Souji gave a warm smile, making Chie blush and turn away. Souji continued his smile, but on the inside he was berating himself for his choice of words. "_Why the hell did I just say that?! I have no place to be flirting with girls right now, let alone on the first day of school!"_

"_**Souji…."**_ Yu hissed out calmly, sounding like the reaper coming to take Souji's soul. "_**What did I just say about the Romeo act? Do I need to torture you for the next couple of hours? I will not hesitate to break you mentally.**_" He sounded almost too cheerful with that last remark.

"_I'm beating myself up enough without your help Yu." _Souji mentally shrugged his shoulders. "_She is kinda cute though. Must be my weakness to that 'Cute Puppy' look."_

The teen could hear the sound of his friend grumbling. "_Go back to your hole Yu. I'll answer a few questions and then be on my way."_

Souji was broken from his thoughts with Chie's hand waving rapidly in front of his face. "Hellooo….Earth to transfer student!"

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I just got caught up in my thoughts again." The teen shook his head mentally. "_Smooth move, dumbass."_

Chie didn't seem to mind as she repeated what she had just said to him. "How about we get a move on, the more time away from school the better!" Chie flashed a toothy grin.

Souji shrugged his shoulders, "Lead the way then."

The group began walking to the door, but was soon stopped by a rather bleak-looking student with orange spikey hair. It took a moment, but Souji noticed that it was the same student who crashed his bike that morning.

The student rubbed the back of his neck, finding a way to start his conversation. "Er-…uhh, um… Satonaka-san?" He pulled a small DVD case out of his bag. "This was really awesome. Like, the way the actors moved was amazing to see…" The student bowed deeply, holding the case in front of him. "And…I'm really sorry! It was an accident! Please Please Please, just have mercy on me until my next paycheck!" Chie took the case from his hands, looking confused. The student let out a quick "See ya thanks," and ran for the door as fast as his legs would carry him.

"Stop right there Hanamura! What the hell did you do to my DVD?!" Chie shouted as she chased him down.

What came next made all males within a 30-foot radius instinctively wince and cup their coinpurse. A thunderous kick was heard round the classroom followed by a high pitched squeal that let everyone know of the damage that was done to his family jewels.

Souji winced as his hand moved closer to his crotch involuntarily. "_That's bad…I'll be surprised if he has kids."_

Chie opened up the DVD case, her eyes going wide at the contents inside. "MY TRIAL OF THE DRAGON!" Chie had a combination of immense grief and extreme fury on her face, definitely a sight to see. "What the…?! What did you do to it?! It's completely cracked!"

"I-I think mine's cracked t-too…" The boy quipped back. "Y-You only hit the left one too…"

"Shut-up Yosuke or I'll kick the other one too!"

The kid gave a small yelp and quickly shut his trap, what little color he had in his face had completely drained now.

Yukiko had a look of concern on her face as she stared at the pained student. "A-Are you alright?"

The student formed a cocky-looking smile through his pain. "O-Oh Yukiko-san, are you worried for me?"

Chie huffed out, looking away from the poor boy. "He's **fine**, Yukiko. Let's ditch him and go home."

The brown-haired girl put the DVD case in her knapsack and the two of them headed out the door. Souji hung back a moment, somewhat intimidated by the sheer amount of power that the girl let loose on the poor guy. He glanced over to the student and saw that he had curled into the fetal position now, tears forming in the corner of his eyes. Souji glanced back and forth between the door and the boy on the floor, deciding whether or not to help the kid curled up on the floor. Soon he heard his name being called out in the hall. The silverette valued his life and the lives of his future children, so he picked the smart decision.

"_I should leave him be…"_

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- X-X**

Souji finally caught up to the girls outside, when he noticed a gangly looking boy approach Yukiko.

"You're Yuki, right? Y-You want to go hang out somewhere?" The boy said in a brazen attempt at a date.

Yukiko looked confused. "What? W-Who are you…?"

"_I don't like the appearance of this guy. He comes off too creepy and the way he's talking so low… Plus he's a student from another school, how would he know Yukiko by name?"_

"_**Something isn't right… Souji?**__"_

The teen gave a mental nod and walked over Yukiko and the boy. "Excuse me, but what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at your own school?" Souji said, sounding imposing as he could.

The boy threw an annoyed glance at Souji before turned his gaze back to Yukiko. "So…Y-You comin' or what?"

Yukiko averted her gaze from the creepy boy. "N-No…I'm not going."

The creepy boy gritted his teeth hard. "FINE!" he yelled. Yukiko jumped in shock. Souji kept his ground, staring hard at the boy. The creep studied Souji for a moment before grumbling something under his breath and quickly turning on his heel, running in the opposite direction as fast as he could.

Souji relaxed a bit and turned around to see Yukiko throwing a questioning glance to Chie. "What did he want with me?"

"He was asking you out, albeit in a creepy and aggressive way," Souji said in a manner-of-fact tone.

The fuses inside Yukiko's head didn't quite connect as she titled her head to the side with a questioning expression. "Huh? Really?"

"Obviously! You're telling me you really had no idea? Sheesh…" Chie gave a faint shiver. "It's creepy though, the way he just came up to you and called you 'Yuki'."

Souji heard the sound of metal squeaking behind him. He turned around and saw the spikey-haired student leaning on his bike, a lopsided grin plastered on his face.

"Ah, so you've turned down another lovelorn fool again, eh, Yukiko-san? Man, you're cruel. You did the same to me last year."

Yukiko gave a small pout. "I did? I don't remember."

The spikey-haired student's faced lit up like a Christmas tree. "Whoa! Really?! Then do you want to hang out sometime?" He asked cheerfully.

Souji stared with a raised eyebrow. "_Persistent bastard isn't he?"_

"No…" Yukiko immediately replied.

The student hung his head in defeat. "Shot down…I guess that'll teach me to get my hopes up…" He gave a small huff and hopped up on his bike. "Anyway, you two better not pick on the new kid too much. Don't want to scare him off so soon!"

Chie stomped her foot and yelling at the student as he took off. "We're just curious, is all!"

Yukiko turned to Souji while Chie fumed. "Umm…I-I'm sorry for dragging you into this."

"Hey it's no problem. He was too much of a creep to _not_ do anything." Souji paused for a second. "A girl should be treated with respect."

Yukiko's face turned a slight crimson as she turned her gaze to the ground.

Souji noticed this but didn't think much of it. Chie fidgeted in her spot as she felt the stares of the student gathering. "C'mon, everyone's staring. Let's go," she whispered to the others.

"Agreed." Souji said aloud.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- X-X**

A few minutes later, the three of them were exchanging small talk… or rather, it was Souji and Chie talking and Yukiko hanging off to the side, only answering when her name came up. She still seemed uncomfortable around Souji, from some type social anxiety or what he said earlier, he couldn't tell.

"So, why did you come to Inaba? Wouldn't you rather say in the city?" Chie asked.

Souji decided in telling her. There was no harm in giving out small info like that. "My parents work for some big name company and had to be shipped overseas for something. They couldn't take me with them and they thought that I shouldn't be alone, so they sent me to live with some relatives"

He frowned. "_Hypocritical of them. Saying that I shouldn't be alone, yet when they worked, I was all by myself. They just wanted me somewhere that they knew I wouldn't cause trouble."_

"_**Like you would in the first place.**__" _Yu said sarcastically. "_**I would have stopped you anyway. I can't let you do something that would make a fool of yourself.**__"_

"_Oh, thanks for your help this morning with Morooka then. I certainly didn't make a fool of myself." _Souji hissed sarcastically.

"_**That was different. He was an ass. He deserved it and whatever misfortunes that may happen to him.**__"_

"_Little harsh don't you think…"_

"You must not talk a lot, do you?" said Chie, breaking Souji from his conversation with Yu.

The silverette shrugged his shoulders. "I wouldn't say that. I like to think that I just take time to word my responses correctly."

Chie tilted her head a little to the side and gave a shrug of her own. "Anyway, so you came here because of your parents' job. Haha, I thought it was way more serious instead." She looked off to the side, gazing at a nearby rice field before turning back to Souji. "There's really nothing here, huh?" She said dully. "That's what makes it nice though, but there really is nothing to show people from outside." Chie furrowed her brow, trying to remember something. "Oh!" She exclaimed as she snapped her fingers loudly. "I think there's something from Mt. Yasogami…our dyed clothes or pottery or something was kinda famous. Hmm…Ah! There's the Amagi Inn too! Yukiko's family runs it! It's practically the pride of Inaba!"

Yukiko's fidgeted a little bit. "Huh? It's just an old inn…" she said modestly.

Chie turned to her friend. "What? No way! It's been in tons of magazines, saying that it's a sorta hidden treasure." She turned back to the silverette. "It's a great inn! It's been there for generations and someday Yukiko is gonna take over! It actually attracts quite a lot of visitors to Inaba. It pretty much keeps the town running."

Yukiko furrowed her brow. "….I wouldn't say that's entirely true."

Souji had drifted off into space about halfway through that entire explanation. It wasn't that he didn't care, but he really wasn't interested in a history lesson. Thank God for his famous deadpan face.

"So…You think Yukiko's cute, huh?" Chie asked with an impish grin.

The silverette came close to doing a double-take.

Yukiko gained a blush as red as her cardigan. "C-Chie!" she stammered out.

Souji opened his mouth, his brain still on auto-pilot. "I think that both of you are cute in your own ways."

Now Chie grew a blush to contend with Yukiko's. Souji mentally punched himself in the face once he realized what he had just said. "_…FUCK! WHY DO YOU TORMENT ME HORMONES?!"_

"_**Souji…If I had hands right now…I'd strangle you.**__"_

"A-Anyway, Yukiko's really popular at school, but she's never had a boyfriend. Weird, right?" Chie squeaked out, trying to break the awkward silence.

"C'mon, s-stop that! You shouldn't believe that, okay? It's not true that I'm popular or that I've never had a boyfriend." Yukiko tipped over her words as she tried to correct herself. "Wait, no! What I mean to say is that I don't need a boyfriend!" She gave a mean look to her friend. "Geez…Chie!" She puffed out her cheeks a bit.

Souji though out his response before speaking. "Don't worry about it Yukiko-san. I know what you mean. A relationship shouldn't be forced on somebody. Both people should have strong feelings for each other before they go around calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend." That was the truth that Souji honestly believed in. With this mentality, he never actively pursued a relationship, even though he had his fair share of girls thrown his way. None of them meant anything to him, they just wanted him for his looks and his popularity.

Chie smiled at his answer, before letting out a wild laugh. "Hahaha! Yeah." She turned to her friend who was still fuming at her. "I'm sorry Yukiko, but this is our chance to talk to somebody from the big city, and you've barely said anything!"

Souji gave a small grin as he turned to the front, immediately spying lights and a small crowd of people ahead. "Hmm…I wonder what's going on over there." He pointed out. The three teenagers continued walking down the street until they came upon the disturbance.

Police cars and yellow tape cordoned off a crime scene. A white sheet placed over a body while various policemen searched the area. Two housewives began to whisper to each other, the trio tuning into their hushed conversation while they watched the policemen do their jobs.

"So that high schooler left early, and as she came down this street…"

"…Wow, who would imagine _that_ hanging from an antenna?"

"I wanted to see it…"

"You're too late then, they just took it down a moment ago..."

Souji's eyes widened as he made the connection. He turned to the girls and saw the same expression on their faces.

"I-Is that what I think happened?" Chie whispered

"I think so…." Yukiko turned her eyes away from the scene.

The silverette cast his eyes to the white sheet that concealed the body and felt a pit form in his stomach. This was the first time he had seen a dead body. Souji looked up to the roof top and saw the antenna that the women were talking about, covered in blood. The pit only seemed to deepen as the dull crimson ran down the pole. The teen grimaced and snapped his head away from the scene. It was too much to take in.

Souji felt a small breeze go by him as a man rushed past him, falling to his knees onto the grass on the side of the street and emptying the contents of his stomach.

"Dammit Adachi! How long are you gonna act like a rookie? You wanna get sent back to central office?!" a familiar voice yelled from the side.

"Ngh…I'm sorry…Dojima-san." the man apologized weakly before vomiting a second time.

Dojima gave a tired sigh and mumbled to himself. "Damn rookie…" He looked off to his right and saw his nephew a few feet away and briskly walked over to him. "Hey, what are you doing here?" Dojima said with a harsh tone.

The teen sensed the hostility and raised his hands in defense. "Nothing, we were just passing by on the way home."

Souji could see the information processing within his uncle's tired mind. Dojima gave another sigh before relaxing a bit. "…I shoulda figured that would've happened. That damn principle… We told him not to let anyone through here."

Chie tilted her head to the side, "You know this guy Seta-kun?"

Souji winced slightly at the calling of his surname. He strongly disliked formalities, but would let this one slide by for right now. "Yes, this is my uncle."

Dojima gave a small cough to gain their attention. "I'm Detective Dojima, his guardian." He rubbed the back of his neck, looking for his next words. "Well…how should I say this…I hope that you will get along with him." A serious gaze spread across Dojima's face. "You three shouldn't be wandering around here. Go home."

The sound of lurching punctuated the end of Dojima's order. The older man gave a tired huff before walking over to the rookie cop and helping him up. Dojima mumbled something to the cop and the two walked back across the yellow tape barrier.

Chie inched closer to Yukiko and whispered, "Is this what they were talking about on the announcement?"

"And what do they mean when the said that it was hanging from an antenna?" Yukiko whispered back.

The two girls gained grim expressions on their faces.

"Listen Yukio, why don't we go to Junes some other time?"

Yukiko gave a small nod. "Good idea."

Chie turned back to Souji and gave a toothy grin. "Alright then, we're taking off now. Let's do our best starting tomorrow neighbor!"

"Sure, I'll see you both tomorrow." Souji waved his hand as the two girls walked off ahead of him. The teen turned the corner, deciding that it would a good idea to head back home as well.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- X-X**

"I wonder if Dad's not coming home tonight…" Nanako mumbled as she glanced at the ticking clock on the wall.

It had been just the two of them when Souji had arrived home. It was starting to get late and Dojima hadn't called at any point. The pair had ordered out, which really consisted of Nanako calling and ordering what she and her father usually got, and passed the time by watching the T.V, what little conversation between the cousins was strained at best.

"_**Even though I like silence, I can't help but feel unnerved at this tension,**_" said Yu. "_**I feel as if we are scaring her by our presence. Do you think she normally acts this way?**_"

Souji leaned back into the couch as his eyes flicked back and forth between the small girl and the television. "_I have no idea. It's hard reading her emotions. It feels like she's stuck in a permanent melancholic mood."_

The happy chime of the evening news sounded commanding the teen's attention. An older male announcer came on and quickly began his report. "Our top story this evening concerns a bizarre case in a quiet suburb. Around noon today a woman was found dead near the Samegawa River in Inaba."

A familiar area popped up on the screen. "_The school zone! I wonder if this is about what I saw earlier…"_

"The deceased has been identified as Ms. Mayumi Yamano, 27-year-old announcer at the local television station." A picture of Ms. Yamano appeared in the corner of the screen. "The initial results from the Inaba Police Department's investigation have shown-"

Nanako gasped in surprise. "The Inaba Police Department! T-That's where Dad works!" The little girl's gaze fell to her lap, beginning to get anxious.

The silver-haired teen saw this and decided he needed to say something. "Hey, don't worry about it. It'll be alright." Souji said softly.

Nanako lifted her head up and gazed at her cousin for a moment before speaking. "…I know. That's his job, stuff like this happens," she said in a "matter of fact" way.

Souji felt a small frown tug at the corners of his mouth as he turned back to the news.

"The body was found hanging from a large television antenna atop a local resident's roof. Authorities are uncertain as to why the body was in such a state. With the cause of death also uncertain, police continue to investigate whether the death is an accident or homicide. A thick fog common to the area is impeding their progress, and plans to fully canvass the area are delayed until tomorrow." The report ended and segwayed into another, Souji didn't pay any attention though. He was spacing out, back to earlier in the day.

"_Wait…that was the announcer that I heard about yesterday. Her affair with that councilman had been plastered all over the news, and now they're announcing that she's dead today..."_

Yu pondered what he had heard for a moment. "_**This doesn't seem to be a coincidence, someone wanted her dead. The question is, who?**__" _

"_Probably a bunch of people. You know how corrupted politicians can be. A hit could have been put out on her and the killer did a bad job. Or maybe it was the rage of a spurned lover, distraught by all that has happened." _Souji though, a small smile forming at his fantasies.

"_**You really need to lay off the manga Souji. It's not healthy for you.**__" _Yu said dully.

"_But I read manga that have sophisticated characters and plots that keep me engaged and wanting to read more!"_

"_**Souji… You enjoy manga that involve the main character having a harem of big-breasted women and that make no sense plot-wise.**_"

"…_I have no idea what you're talking about."_

"_**I bet you don't... I just can't see how you can enjoy that brain numbing garbage, and yet still read something like 'Sherlock Holmes' or those books by that American author, Hunter S. Thompson.**__" _

Souji was about to reply, when his concentration was shattered by the sound of something. The silverette refocused his vision to see his young cousin singing happily along with the Junes theme like she did last night. He unconsciously smiled as the little girl finished singing the jingle. "You're a good singer Nanako-chan!" He gave a couple of small claps to entice her.

Nanako gave a big smile. "Thanks! I'm the best in my class!" She began to sing the tune over again.

Souji listened to her one more time before he called it a night. He was tired from all that had happened earlier, plus he still had some unpacking to do.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- X-X**

Souji was walking down the street to school, staring lazily at the cloudy sky. He could hear the whispers from various students talking about his outburst from yesterday, but didn't pay it them no mind. As much as he hated rumors going around, he couldn't stop them. Better to keep his mouth shut than to antagonize them further by doing something stupid. So he continued his walk, the clouds commanding the attention of his half-lidded eyes.

It wasn't until he felt a gust of air accompanied by a blob of orange hair did he break his gaze. Souji watched as the kid from yesterday lost control of his bike and crashed head-first into a group of trashcans. The silverette stared with his eyebrow raised as the teen rolled around inside of the metal can, calling for help from anyone.

"_Should I?_" Souji contemplated to himself. "_I better help him. I did say that I would try to be friendly."_

He walked over to the rolling kid and placed a foot on the trashcan, letting the boy wiggle his way out of his smelly prison. The orange-haired student dusted of his uniform before turning to Souji.

"Whew…Thanks for saving me dude! Umm… Oh yeah! You're that new transfer student, Seta-san right?"

"Yes, and please call me Souji."

"Well Souji-san, I'm Yosuke Hanamura. Nice to meet ya!" Yosuke said with a grin.

"Hey, uh, are you alright? You took a pretty hard fall back there."

"Huh? Oh, yeah yeah. I'm fine. I've taken worse spills." Yosuke gave a comedic tap on his skull for full effect. "Say, have you heard about the incident from yesterday? They found that announcer lady hanging from an antenna! You think it's some kind of warning? There's no way that could have been an accident."

"Well, I wasn't thinking along those lines, but I think you're onto something."

Yosuke gave a small shiver. "Dangling a dead body over a roof like that… That's just messed up man." Yosuke grimaced further. "Then again, it's pretty messed up to kill someone in the first place."

Souji was a little surprised at how strong Yosuke felt about it, but he had to agree with him. It's wrong to take someone's life.

Yosuke took out his phone and looked at the screen, instantly horrified. "Ah shit! We're late!" The orange-haired teen rushed over to his bike and pulled it out from the wreck. He hopped on and patted the seat behind him. "You wanna ride? She may be a little squeaky, but she gets the job done."

Souji eyed the death trap and weighed his options. He could risk his life and hopefully get to school in time or he could forgo the danger and be faced with a mad Moron…

"Fine I'll do it, but you better not wreck again or I'll put you in a trashcan myself." Souji said as he took a seat on the back of the bike.

Yosuke gave a hearty chuckle. "Don't worry! I work my best under pressure."

With some mild wobbling, the pair took off, Yosuke peddling as fast as he could. Souji's knuckles turned white as he held his death grip on the bike, already regretting this decision.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- X-X**

The school day had passed by without much notice. Yosuke and a terrified Souji had made it to the school in time to avoid one lecture from Morooka, only to have an earful of another about how he was wasting his time teaching these ingrates called students and about how he would "teach" them to be respectful and productive members of society. Souji didn't open his mouth the entire day, opting for sporadic naps and staring out the window all day. He knew most of what the teachers were going over in class in the first place and for what he didn't know, a little studying at home wouldn't hurt.

The day had ended quicker than Souji had predicted so now the silverette sat at his desk, piddling around with a sheet of paper as he thought of what he could do for the rest of the day.

Souji was too engrossed with his task at hand to notice someone walk up beside him. "Hey man, nice crane. How long did that take you?"

The silverette's head snapped up and saw Yosuke standing there, a grin plastered on his face. "Huh? Oh, just now really. I guess you could say I do this when I'm bored."

"That's cool man." Yosuke began. "So, you getting used to this place yet Souji-san?"

Souji contemplated his answer for a moment. "In a way I am, but at the same time it's still a huge system shock for me."

"I can understand that. There isn't much here to do compared to the big city, but there is that certain…something that you can't get anywhere else. The air's clean, the food's great… Oh, do you know about the local delicacy?"

"No I don't believe I have." Souji said with a tilted head.

"It's grilled steak, man!" Yosuke gave a small chuckle. "Like that's anything special, huh?" Souij couldn't say anything bad about the food. He was always partial to a good steak now and again. "Hey listen, I know a place nearby where you can get it cheap. Wanna come? You helped me out this morning, so it'll be my treat."

"What's this? What about me, huh? No apologies?" a familiar voice called out. Yosuke felt a shiver go down his spine as he slowly turned to the side, revealing an annoyed Chie. "My 'Trial of the Dragon'…"

"Urgh… You always come around when I'm talking about food." Yosuke said dejectedly.

Chie turned her head to the side, "How about it Yukiko? Don't you think he should treat us as well?"

Yukiko shook her head as she stood from her desk. "No thanks, I'll pass… I don't want to gain any more weight. I need to help out at the inn today, anyway."

Yosuke seemed to get a little excited at this statement. "Wow, Yukiko-san! You started training to take over the family business?"

"It's not like that! I'm just helping out when it gets busy." Yukiko said with a pout as she glanced over to the clock on the wall. "I should be going now."

Souji raised an eyebrow as he watched the raven-haired girl exit the classroom. "_She seemed oddly offended when Yosuke talked about her taking the inn over. I wonder what that was all about..."_ He pondered.

The teen quickly dismissed it as Chie spoke up. "Well anyway, we should get going too."

Yosuke was taken aback, "R-Really?! I seriously have to treat two people?" He huffed out.

Chie gave a huge grin and nodded her head like a child.

"Oh man…."

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- X-X**

Souji was idly folding the small paper napkins into origami figures while waiting for Yosuke to bring Chie's and his food. Chie on the other hand, was impatiently rapping her fingers on the table, eventually her eyes were glued to Souji's hands as he meticulously made each figure.

"That's really good Souji! Where did you learn to do that?" Chie asked as she picked up one of the small cranes and inspected it.

"It's nothing really. I've just had a lot of practice doing it. You could actually say that it's a hobby of mine." Souji replied, finishing the last crease on his third crane. "_Yeah…lots of free time on a person's hands can be an amazing thing."_

Souji glanced up and saw that Yosuke was approaching with a big tray of food and quickly swept his crafts off the table.

"Sorry it took so long." Yosuke apologized as he placed the tray down.

"…I'm still mad." Chie mumbled. "You had to bring us to this place, huh? It doesn't even have grilled steak!"

"Yeah, well, once you jumped aboard the freeloader train, I had to change my plans a bit." The spikey-haired teen quipped back.

"Still…that's no reason to bring us to your place?"

"Look, this isn't my place." The teen grumbled out.

Souji raised his eyebrow at the exchange. Yosuke noticed this, "Oh, right. I haven't told you yet, have I? I moved here from the city about six months ago. My dad was assigned to manage this location, so we all packed up and moved together."

The silverette was surprised when he heard that. He hadn't expected somebody else from a city to be here. Maybe now he had someone that could help him acclimate to this new town?

Yosuke took one of the bowls of udon and placed it in front of Souji. "Here, this is to welcome you to town," he said with a smile. The spikey haired teen took a second bowl and passed it to his right. "This is yours Chie and don't worry, it's on me."

"Yeah, I know." Chie said without batting an eyelash as she began to dig into her noodles.

Yosuke glared at the girl, praying to God that she would burst into flame if he stared hard enough at her. Chie just ignored the death-glare and instead stared up some small talk with Souji. "So Souji-san, what was your previous school like? I always wondered what a city school was like."

The silverette face fell a bit, the memories of his years in Tokyo churning in his mind. He gingerly rubbed the back of his neck. "I-It was nothing special. Really boring and tedious life there." Souji stammered out, maybe a bit too quick for his own good.

"_**You forgot the part about the shallow students, the nosey teachers, and the various mischief you got yourself into over the course of three years.**_" Yu chimed in snidely.

Souji silently reminded himself to kill Yu if at all possible later that evening.

Chie tilted her head and gave a questioning look to the teen. Souji kept his eyes locked with Chie's. If he looked away now it would invite Chie to question him further about his past, and that was something he didn't like to talk about.

Chie eventually gave up and shrugged her shoulders. "Oh well, I guess city life isn't as amazing as Yosuke made it up to be, huh?"

"No way, I had a great time back in the city! There's so much fun going around and hanging out around the malls, goin' out to the movies, or even just taking a stroll down the streets to take in the sights and sounds." Yosuke said cheerily.

"_Heh, the nights are where the real fun is at." _Souji smirked, remembering a select few times that he had genuine fun in the city once the sun went down and the neon lights came to life.

"See look," Yosuke pointed to Souji. "He agrees with me! The school he went to may have been dull, but the city is where the real fun is at."

"Y'know, no matter how many times I hear about it, the way you talk about the city makes it sound completely amazing." Chie had the look of a kid who had been told a mystical tale of a magic place. "All we have is the shopping district and now that Junes came in, a lot of the stores are shutting down now." Chie grew wide eyed as she realized what she had just said. "I'm so sorry Yosuke!"

The spikey haired teen sagged down in his chair, his face holding a pained expression. "You can't blame it all on Junes, can you?" Yosuke glanced to his right and immediately shot up in his seat. "I-It's Saki-senpai!" He turned to the other two and let out a quick "Sorry," before jogging over to a girl that was seated nearby.

Souji raised an eyebrow. "Who's that?"

"That's Saki Konishi. Her family runs a liquor store in the shopping district, but I think she works here part-time as well." Chie giggled a bit. "He wishes that she would go out with him, he talks about her nonstop."

Souji slowly nodded his head and turned his ear to the two, listening to their conversation.

"Hey, how's it goin' Saki-san? You look pretty beat." Yosuke said, trying his best to act cool in front of the girl he liked.

Saki swiftly turned to face Yosuke. "Oh…Hello Hana-chan. I finally got on break." She gave a quick grin. "So what's up? Boosting the family business by bringing your friends here?"

Yosuke feigned a look of hurt, placing his hand over his heart. "Madame! You wound me!"

That garnered a small smile from her. It made Yosuke feel ecstatic inside! But he couldn't blow it here and show it. He needed to be serious for a moment. "Kidding aside, what's wrong? You look down, did something happen?" Yosuke asked with sincerity.

Saki just shook her head. "No…I'm fine, just a little tired." She sighed a bit and mumbled something under her breath that Yosuke couldn't quite catch.

He wondered what she had said, but quickly dismissed it, it didn't matter now. Phase two of the plan went well, now all Yosuke had to do was be open with her and gain her trust then he'll hit a home-run! "You know Saki-san, i-if you ever need someone to talk to I'll al-"

"Oh hey! Is that the new transfer student?"

And with that, Yosuke's perfect planned had just hit a bump, and a pretty big one at that. Maybe he could direct the conversation back to him. "W-What? Yeah, but he can wa-"

"Well don't be rude, introduce me to him." Saki said, already out of her seat and walking towards Souji. Yosuke stood there for a moment, his mind blank. His perfect plan had officially crashed and burned. Hard. He ended up just giving a huge sigh and walking back over to his table, Saki already engaging Souji by the time Yosuke made it.

"So, are you the new transfer student? I've already heard about what happened this morning. Gutsy move." Souji pinched the bridge of his nose, he really didn't expect this fiasco to spread like wildfire the way it did. "Ah, nevermind about that. Have they already told you about me? It must be nice talking with someone else from the big city. I don't see Hana-chan hanging out with the other guys from school much."

Yosuke panicked a bit, waving his hands defensively. "N-Not necessarily."

"He doesn't have too many friends, so I hope you two get along with each other. He's a bit nosy though, so you'll have to tell him to his face when he's being annoying."

Souji felt bad for Yosuke, he was going through the grinder and being spat out. He may have though she was playing, but Souji could tell that something was up. There was an almost…contempt behind her words when she spoke about Yosuke.

"No, he's a cool guy. Definitely not annoying either." Souji said, silently studying what Konishi's reaction would be to test his hypothesis. The silverette saw the briefest flash of displeasure before she plastered an obviously fake smile to Souji. He replied with his own fake smile, as to convey his message of "_I don't like you," _to her.

"Haha…I'm just kidding." She quickly looked down to her watch. "Well, looks like my break is about over. Back to work I go…" She turned her back to the three and started walking away. "Laters."

Yosuke opened his mouth to say something, but the words died in his mouth, so he just took his seat instead. He gave a small chuckle. "Haha, Senpai says I'm annoying, but she's even nosier than me! She has a younger brother and she treats him pretty much the same way…" There was a hint of disappointment in last sentence.

Chie grew a devilish grin. "Oooohh…I know! You don't want her to treat you like a little brother. I get it…" Her grin seemed to grow even bigger as she took in a huge breath for dramatic flair. "The lone daughter of a local family-run liquor store and the scion of an invading chain...The story of two star crossed lovers! The flames of passionate forbidden love!" Chie snorted with laughter once she finished her monologue.

Yosuke's face burned a bright crimson. "N-NO! IT'S NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL!" the teen spat out, trying to hide his shame to the world.

Chie's laughter had died down as she wiped her eyes of a few stray tears. "Well…I know just the thing to cheer up that lovesick heart of yours!" She let out playfully. Both Yosuke and Souji were intrigued and perked up their ears. "You guys ever hear of the midnight channel? You're supposed to look into a T.V. that's switched off, alone, exactly at midnight on a rainy night." She began to speak in a hushed tone. "While staring at your own image, another person will appear on the screen… They say that other person is your soul mate."

Yosuke and Souji both gave Chie chastising stares.

"What? For a second, I thought you were going to say something useful for once." Yosuke shook his head. "Jeez Chie, how can you get all excited over such a childish urban legend?" He scoffed.

Chie huffed out angrily. "What? Childish? You don't believe me, do you?!"

"Of course I don't!" Yosuke replied. The two engaged in an angry glare-off, like children squabbling over whether the Easter bunny existed or not.

"I have an idea." The quarrelling teens turned to the silverette who had his hand up. "I just checked the weather on my phone and it says that it's going to rain tonight. Why don't we all just try it tonight and then we'll see who is right."

Chie frantically nodded her head. "Yeah! That sounds like a great idea! We can all try it for ourselves!"

"Wait, wait…You're telling me that you've heard about this already, but haven't tried it out?!" The spikey-haired teen stared with mouth agape and eye twitching. "I…I can't remember hearing anything sound more stupid." Yosuke facepalmed, while Chie quietly fumed.

Souji sighed. Wanting to go home already, Souji quickly made up an excuse. "Listen, I still have some unpacking to do at home, so I'm gonna head out." The silverette stood up and said his goodbyes, quickly heading for the nearest elevator.

Before he left the food court, Chie quickly stood up and shouted to him. "Hey don't forget to check out the Midnight Channel tonight!" Souji replied with a thumb-up and turned the corner, vanishing out of sight.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- X-X**

The storm clouds had quickly moved in once Souji had arrived at the Dojima residence, and now the sound of rain pattered on the roof tile as he and Nanako ate dinner alone together, silently watching some T.V show that Nanako had chosen. But the show wasn't enough to distract her as she looked sullenly between the clock on the wall and the telephone.

Souji's curiosity got the better of him. "Your dad call yet?"

The little girl shook her head worriedly. "No. He always says he will…" Suddenly, the sound of the front door opening was heard. The little girl got excited, exclaiming, "He's here!" She jumped up from her seat as Dojima came in, dragging his feet.

He let out a yawn and rubbed the dark bags under his tired eyes. "Hey guys, I'm back. Did anything happen while I was out?"

Nanako puffed out her cheeks angrily. "No. You're late again."

Dojima sighed as he plopped down on the couch, tired from being on his feet all day. "I know, I'm sorry. I've been busy at work all day." The grizzled man looked around the couch for the remote before noticing it on the table. "Nanako, can you put it on the news for me?"

The girl pouted and sat back down in her seat. Doing as her father said, she flipped the channel to the news.

The usual news anchor appeared on the television, in the middle of the broadcast. "Next, we have more details about the developing story on the incident in foggy Inaba. Sources say that announcer Mayumi Yamano was found dead, hanging above someone's house in this isolated rural town. It has been confirmed that Ms. Yamano had been having an affair with Taro Namatame, husband of enka singer Misuzu Hiiragi." The report droned on as Souji blurred out the world around him.

"_So, it seems that crime scene I walked by the other day was Yamano's, huh? It's still chilling to think about it."_

"_**It seems so. It's sad to hear about the loss of life.**__" _Yu said solemnly.

"_Wait…I thought you hated everyone?"_

"_**Souji…I may hate people, but that doesn't mean that I want everyone to die. I just don't want to be bothered with others.**_"

Souji mentally shook his head. His brother was bit of an enigma, so many unknown reasons behind his beliefs.

"_Anyway, since this seems to be a love triangle, do you think that it was a crime of passion?"_

"_**I have no clue, but it certainly seems that way."**_

Souji returned his focus back the report. "…-olcis plans to investigate this relationship and question any personnel involved with them. In addition, we bring you an exclusive interview with the local student who found Ms. Yamano's body."

Dojima sighed. "An interview with the kid already? Where the hell did they find her so quick?" He grumbled in a half trace-like state.

The screen cut to a scene with a field reporter standing next to a young, female looking student, whose face had been blurred out. The overzealous reporter shoved a microphone to the girl and began shooting off rapid-fire questions. "What went through your mind when you found the body? Could you tell she was dead? Did you see the face?" The reporter looked expectant as the girl fumbled for an answer.

"Umm…" the girl stalled, blindsided by the lightning fast questions.

Despite the lackluster answer, the reporter continued his barrage. "Don't you think it's scary that someone was killed on a foggy day?"

"Huh…? She was killed?" The girl answered in a daze, still unclear of what was going on.

The reported faltered. "Oh, er….Did you see anyone suspicious around here?"

"No, not really…" She replied, her thoughts finally aligning.

"We heard you found the body when you left school early. Did you have some personal business to take care of?" The reporter hounded.

"What? T-hat's…"

Souji couldn't take the live interrogation anymore and tune it out. "_That is grade 'A' journalism right there. Hound the interviewee until they don't even know what's going on anymore, and make them appear stupid." _Souji mentally shook his head.

"_**I honestly don't care. Both parties are acting like morons. She should have been expecting to be hounded by the press and the reporter is an ass for catching the girl in the middle of the street. At least have the common decency to let the person being interviewed know beforehand, so that it wouldn't make both of them look like complete tools in the process.**_"

Souji was surprised. "_Wow…that's actually nice of you. I think…"_

"_**Well…that may be because I have more contempt for journalists more than I do for other people. Damned leeches…**__" _Yu huffed out.

"_Wait...what about that American that you lik-"_

_"__**Most. I hate MOST journalists. Very few actually intrigue me.**"_

Souji raised his eyebrow. "_Really now? How come I've never known this before?" _The teen inquired.

"_**I like to keep things to myself sometimes, just like you do to me. Just because we share the same space doesn't mean that we need to know each other completely.**__"_

Souji frowned at his friend's words, but he had a point. There are some thoughts that he's had that he didn't want Yu to know about.

He refocused his vision again to see the interview cut off back to the news anchor. "-tragedy that occurred near the local shopping district. Many store owners are raising concern that this will cause them to lose business as a result."

Dojima scoffed. "Hmph. If they lose more customers, it'll be because of the stink that you're making about it."

The anchor turned to a panel of commentators, letting them voice their opinions. "It really is a bizarre case, isn't it? I mean, hanging someone upside down from an antenna… I'd have to it's some sort of sign or warning from the killer!"

The camera panned back to the announcer. "Yes, but so far, no one has stepped forward to take credit for the crime."

"Loads of prank calls though…" Dojima idly commented.

"So the cause of death is still unknown? And they still don't have a suspect?" the commentator queried aggressively. Taxpayers' funds are going to a police force who can't even figure out if this is an accident or a homicide?!"

Souji had expected his uncle to defend his work, but instead was met with silence. He didn't think of it too much though, the police are usually burned at the stake if they are less than perfect when something horrible happens, so Dojima must be used to this treatment, sadly.

The teen lazily twirled his chopsticks in his hand as the news cut to a commercial for Junes. The usual ad played. Once over, the tiny jingle began to play, Nanako sang it back with a huge smile on her face.

"Hey Dad, can we go to Junes together sometime?" Her face shone bright as she turned to her father, only for her joy to be quickly shot down. Dojima was fast asleep on the couch. The little girl scowled sighed sadly. "Geez..."

Souji felt bad for the girl. "Hey, don't worry." He consoled. His cousin turned to him with a sad expression, one that struck deep into his heart. That look…It reminded him too much of himself when he was a child. Souji wanted to say something more; something to console her further, but nothing would spring up. Instead, he just quietly said goodnight and slinked up to his room, memories from his childhood coming back to him.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- X-X**

The teen sat on his leather couch, skimming through a manga that he a randomly chosen. Focus seemed to delude him as he frequently spaced out. Something was eating away at him. He had remembered about the Midnight Channel that Chie had spoken about earlier and dismissed it almost immediately, but now, as silly as it was, he wanted to check it out.

It was something more than just normal curiosity eating away at him though. Something _else _wanted Souji to stay up and confirm this rumor with his own eyes, but what it was, he couldn't tell.

Souji rubbed his eyes as he pulled out his phone to look at the time. "_Just five more minutes…why am I doing this?"_

"_**I'm beginning to wonder the same. It's nothing but a child's fairytale, it couldn't possibly be real.**_"

Souji frowned. "_But can you feel it? I know we didn't discuss it much, but since you can feel, don't you feel strangely…compelled to find out?"_

Yu was quiet, occasionally mumbling incoherently, like he was arguing to himself. "_**Dammit. I...You're right.**__" _He muttered, defeated. "_**But why are we compelled to do so?**_"

The silverette rested his chin on the palm of his hand, gravely staring at the blank T.V screen. "_I guess we'll find out right now." _The teen looked down at his phone.

It had turned midnight.

Souji watched the television expectedly, his heart beginning to race. One second went by. Then another. And then another, the T.V still pitch-black with no sign of changing.

"_**See it…it was superstitional bullshit. We got all work up over nothi-**_"

Abruptly, to the shock of both parties, the T.V sprung to life, its static hissing ominously. Souji could barely believe what was going on, his feet carrying him in front of the T.V against his better judgment.

"How in the hell…" Souji whispered to himself. He leaned in closer, watching the static dance on the screen. Scenes began to abruptly flash, too quickly for Souji to make anything out of them. Suddenly, a high-pitched shrill pounded with Souji's head, causing him to clutch his head in agony.

"**I am Thou.**" A deep voice echoed within Souji's mind. "**Thou art I.**" The silverette's head pounded harder and his nose began to bleed as he became increasingly more disoriented with each passing moment. "**Thou art the one who opens the Door.**" Souji fell to his knees as lightning raged in the sky outside. Countless whispers filled his ears, each so quiet, but all seemingly screaming at him to get up. He struggled up to his feet, panting and gazing back into the screen of the television.

It was if it was calling to him.

The sliverette stuttered forward, each step seeming like a hundred. The whispers only increased in volume with each step he took, and once upon the T.V they all began to scream in unison, "DO IT!" over and over again until it was a deafening roar. Souji reached out blindly stuck his hand out as more blood dripped down from his nose. He could feel the cool glass of the screen give way to a watery abyss that consumed his hand. Static now consumed his hearing while a black and white swirl took over his vision. His body felt like it was going to be ripped in two, as a fire lit in the deepest part of him. He painfully felt something begin to rip out of him forcefully. He wanted to shout, scream bloody murder, but nothing would come. His body had been paralyzed in this horrible nightmare.

Pain shot up his back and into his brain as his shadow started to seep out of the ground and into the air next to him, forming a dark figure. The teen willed through the agony and with all his might, he pulled his right arm back as hard as he could, trying to free himself of this torture. The T.V suddenly stopped its hypnotizing spin and went pitch-black, as if this had never happened at all. With one last great heave, the teen's arm slipped out of its prison.

Souji landed hard on the floor, coming close to splitting his skull on the edge of the table. No matter how much he wanted, his body refused to move a single inch. All his muscles burned and his head throbbed as his vision blurred, the sweet black veil of unconsciousness coming for him. Just before he shut his eyes, the teen caught a glimpse of the shadowy figure, standing over him, like a predator over its fresh kill.

And as Souji's eyes closed, letting the darkness envelop him, he had one final thought.

"_Is this what it's like...to die?"_

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- X-X**

**Author's Note: **

SWEET BABY JESUS! I'M BACK EVERYONE!

I am back from the dead and this story has new life breathed into it. I am **SO **sorry that I have taken this long to do anything. Life caught up with me and I've had to make a lot important decisions the past couple months. School's been a pain too, so there's that as well.

But enough of me griping. I'm sure you guys that read this are already tired from reading this monster of a chapter. (This is was a doozy.) My normal chapter sizes would normally range from the 8000 to 10000 words, but there is not good place to stop within the game at this point, so I had to truck through alllll that this point.

Anyway, to those that favorite this and to the few that reviewed this: I thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart. Each time that I see a new favorite or review (Especially those!), I get really motivated to write even more. So thank you again so much for being an awesome audience! You didn't want this story to die, and I won't let it!

If there's anything wrong with this chapter, don't be shy. Let me know! I'll gladly look over it.

Till next chapter my (Awesome) friends,

WW.


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